The sector grew only 4.8 percent in the first quarter.

Economists of the country's largest bank SBI have reduced the economic growth rate forecast for the current financial year from 7.5 percent to 6.8 percent.

He said that the reason for this is that the GDP figure in the first quarter is below the estimate.

According to the data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Wednesday, the GDP growth rate in the first quarter of the current financial year 2022-23 stood at 13.5 percent.

The reason for the lower than expected growth rate is the poor performance of the manufacturing sector.

The sector grew only 4.8 percent in the first quarter.

However, the growth was supported by better performance of the services sector.

Experts had predicted a growth rate of 15 to 16.7 percent in the first quarter.

In this, the Reserve Bank of India had estimated the highest growth rate of 16.7 percent.

State Bank of India's (SBI) Chief Economic Adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh had expected the GDP growth rate to be 15.7 percent in the first quarter.

Ghosh said in a report on Thursday that with the growth rate at 13.5 per cent, the real GDP growth declined by 9.6 per cent on a quarterly basis.

But the seasonally adjusted real GDP growth series indicates an uptick in economic activity.

Under this, a growth of 5.6 percent was registered in the first quarter, as compared to 4.1 percent in the first quarter of the financial year 2021-22 and 1.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021-22.

He said that GDP figures hide more than they reveal.

It is time to look at the group of commodities included in the measurement of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and CPI (Consumer Price Index).

It was last reviewed in 2012.

Ghosh said that although the GDP has increased in double digits but this market is less than expected.

The main reason for this is the growth of the manufacturing sector, which was just 4.8 percent in the first quarter.

He said that in view of this, the economic growth rate is estimated to be 6.8 percent for the whole financial year.

Ghosh said that he expects the GDP growth rate to be 6.9 percent in the second quarter of the current financial year 2022-23, 4.1 percent in the third quarter and 4.0 percent in the fourth quarter.

He said, "Based on this, we are now revising the annual GDP growth estimate for 2022-23 to 6.8 percent.

This is a statistical adjustment.

However, he said the growth momentum is expected to pick up in the second half.

Ghosh had earlier projected the economic growth rate to be 15.7 percent in the first quarter.

He said that the most disappointing thing is that the GDP growth rate at current prices is 26.7 percent, which was 32.4 percent in the first quarter of 2021-22 and 14.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021-22.

In real terms, private final consumption expenditure improved to 10 per cent, which is higher than the pre-pandemic level.